Garment



April 24, 1945. A, LA FRANCE GARMENT Filed July 14, 1942 WITNESS E Rw Mm 0H m. mF R w M N w d MA R Patented Apr. 24, 1945 UNIT-ED STATES PATENT-L ,OIFF ICE'Q I j I 2,3v4,440+- H GARMENT, Albert La France, Fairlawn, N.'IJ., assignor to The Manhattan Shirt Company, New York; NtYI, a corporation of New York ApplicationiJulyl l, 1942, SerialNo. 450,846,

1 Claim. (01.2%115) This invention relates to garments, and its ob ject is to provide an improved sleeve construction for garments which will give added comfort to thewearer, and at the same time have an attractive and pleasing appearance.

Thesleeveconstruction of this invention is disclosed in connection with a mans shirt which is usually made with shoulderseams which extend out to the extremitiesof the wearers shoulders,

and side seams whichextend from the armpits of thewearer to thebottom of the shirt. The sleeves of the shirt are usually connected to the Hoody of the shirt by circular, substantially vertically dis posed seams, which are connected to the outer ends of the shoulder seams and tothe'upper ends of the side seams. Thereis thus provided at the extremities of the shoulders a framework of inelastic seams, which limit to an appreciable "de- 1 gree the freedom-of movement of the. wearers tions. I5 and It, respectivelypwhich.aresdiscon-x: nected from the panels fromwhich theyare... formed, except at theiplaces now to be explained. The lining section I5 isconnected' to theright... panel It along its length by the threads which? connect the buttons I! to such paneland linings;

section I5, and theleft-hand vertical portionof the upper side portion of the pocket I9;

' similar manner the lining section It isconnected wearer to move freely and unrestrained in every possible direction without the interference and binding effects which are normally encountered tter underin shirts heretofore made. For a standing of this sleeve and shoulder construction, as well as the other advantages and features of the garment of this invention, reference is made to the following description and to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a shirt embodying the invention, Figure 2 is a rear elevationalview of the garment shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plane view of one of the sleeve panels, and Figure are folded to provide relatively wide lining secto the left panel Il alongitslength-Ioy the threads which form the buttonhole 20 and the right-hand. vertical portion of the line of stitches 2| which secures the pocket 22 to the left panel and dis-connected from their associated panels.

The bottom edges of the lining sections -I5and I5 are connected to the panels! andl I, re-

spectively; by the hem 23 which finishes the bottom of the shirt. The upper endsof the lining sections I5 and I6 are concavely cut to'conformto the curvature of the front portions of the lower edge of the collar 124 and toform at I the upper endsof such lining sections, portions which are gradually (reduced in Width until their width is about one-third the length of the shoul der seams 25 and 26. These portions, together with the associated edge portions of the panels II) and II, are connected to the associated lower edge portions of the collar 24 along the concave cuts, and at their reduced upper ends such por-J tions are connected to the shoulder seams 25 and 26. Thus the relatively wide lining sections I5 and I6 are. connected at their, upper ends to the panels I0 and II, respectively, by shoulder seams 25 and 26, respectively, and the lines of stitches which connect the collar 24 to such panels.

The upper ends of the front panels I0 and II and the liningsections I5 and I6 are connected also to the back panel I2 bythe shoulder seams 25 and 26,,respectively, the back panel I2 being connected to the collar 24 intermediate such seams in the usual fashion. The upper ends of the panels III, II, and I2 are so formed and constructed that the shoulder seams 25 and 26 extend outwardly from the line of attachment of the collar with the body of the shirt to points I just short of the outer ends of the wearers collar bones. The upper side. portions of the panels it, I l, and I2 are cut out with shallow concave cuts which extend from points just short of the outer ends of the wearers collar bones, diagonally across the body of the shirt to points beneath the armpits of the garment. Connected to these cut-out portions of the panels I 0, I I, and I2 are the sleeve panels 2'! and 28.

As is shown more clearly in Figure 3 of the drawing, each sleeve panel is composed of a flat blank which is folded along the longitudinal central line 30-30 (see Fig. 4) to form the top central line of the sleeve. The sides 31, 3| of the sleeve blank are sewn together to give the sleeve a substantially tubular form, and to form the underseam 3.2 of the sleeve. It will be noted that the sides 3|, 3! of the ,sleeve diverge outwardly toward the top of the blank and are cut so that they are slightly convex for substantially their entire lengths, and at their upper ends flare outwardly in a concave curve to provide at the upper ends of such sides the greatest cross dimension of the sleeve panel. The top edge 33 of the sleeve panel is convexed in shape, such upper edge being composed of two substantially straight side portions extending in converging relation from'their points of connection with the flared ends of the side edges 3|, 3! of the panel and a central portion having a fiat convex shape. The sleeves 21 and 28 are united to the panels H], H, and it by the seams 34 and 35, respectively, which are connected at their upper ends to the shoulder seams 25 and 26, respectively, and at the lower ends to the side seams M and 13, respectively, which connect the sides of the front panels H3 and H to the rear panel l2.

It will be seen from the foregoing that as a result of the above shoulder construction, the sockets of the wearers arms or outer ends of his shoulders will be enclosed by the loose sleeve mawhat flattened so that in the region of the shoulder it forms a seam portion disposed transversely to the shoulder seam and which properly supports and drapes the body of the shirt on the wearers :body. The shirt shoulder seams 25 and 26 coact also with the sloping seams 34 and 35 to maintain the body of the shirt in position on the wearer even while the wearer is strenuously moving his arms and will, without affecting such arm movements, operate to prevent riding up of the body of the shirt and the consequent bulging or protruding of the shirt above the trousers. The short shoulder construction also has the advantage of Permitting maximum movement of the arms without complicating the construction of the garment or requiring any special fittings or precautions in assembling the sleeves and collar of the garment and without affecting or disturbing the collar of the shirt during such movements, the strains set up by such movements with this construction being dissipated before reaching the collar. This construction also provides a garment which so far as appearance is concerned is very attractive and distinctive.

I claim:

A garment composed of a front panel and a back panel joined together along their adjoining side edges to a point under the armpit of the wearer to form a side seam, the upper outer side edges of such panels from the top of theside seam being cut concavely to form a gradually sloping arm opening extending from the wearers armpit to a point on the wearers shoulder short of the outer end of the wearers collar bone, a relatively short shoulder seam extending from the last mentioned point to the collar of the garment and connecting together the upper reduced ends of said panels, and a sleeve panel connected at its upper end to said front and back panels and tosaid shoulder seam, said sleeve panel, in its fiat, blank form, including a body portion having side edges which incline outwardly toward the top of the sleeve and are adapted to be secured together to provide a tubular sleeve construction,

and said sleeve panel including a relatively high cap portion at the top of said body portion and having a substantially convexly-shaped outer,

said outer edge of said cap portion in the assembled form of such panel on the garment, being connected to said shoulder seam and to the upper ends of said front and back panels by a seam extending from such shoulder seam and diagonally across the body of the wearer below the place of connection of the wearers arm to his body, to the iwper end of said side seam.

ALBERT LA FRANCE. 

